BC

The province is investing $105 million in the next three years to help cover costs of pharmaceuticals for low-income residents.

Health Minister Adrian Dix made the announcement in Victoria on Friday. The change will see deductibles removed for PharmaCare for "working families with the lowest income in the province," beginning next year.

Families with net incomes between $15,000 and $30,000 will have their PharmaCare deductibles wiped, and those deductibles will be reduced for households with a net income under $45,000.

Dix said the change will affect 240,000 families in the province.

"We know that in families earning under $30,000 in net income, needed prescriptions go unfilled too often because PharmaCare deductibles are too high," Dix said in a news release.

Currently, the deductible for PharmaCare is $300 for families that make $15,000 and $900 for families that make $30,000. Households that make under $15,000 don't pay a deductible.

Families that make $45,000 pay $1,750 for their PharmaCare deductible. It's not yet clear how much the province plans to reduce the rate for earners between $30,000 and $45,000.